Birmingham owner granted bail

Bayern Munich are ready to offer Robert Lewandowski a new and improved deal, but the Bundesliga champions will not be paying their star striker  crazy wages.

The Poland international s existing contract runs until June 2019, but Bayern are keen to reward him for his fine performances since his transfer from Borussia Dortmund in 2014 amid interest from Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

Although talks are well under way, Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge suggested negotiations could be drawn out over wage demands.

We have had a number of meetings with Lewandowski s agents. We are ready to renew his contract, Rummenigge told Bild.

We will definitely not sell him. But we have always been willing to change a player s contract if the situation or his value…

Landon Donovan has urged LA Galaxy to focus on the bigger picture ahead of the International Champions Cup third-place play-off with Milan.

Galaxy are taking part in the competition in the middle of their domestic MLS season and Donovan has warned his team-mates that they must not let it be a distraction to them.

A 3-1 victory over Juventus on Saturday secured their place in Wednesday s play-off but the forward admitted that he had an eye on their MLS clash with Dallas on Sunday.

We’ve got to be smart because the real season starts again on Sunday, he told the club s official site.

These are good games to get experience for the younger guys and to really enjoy the moment, but we have to keep our eye on the big picture.

The return of captain Robbie Keane …

The in-demand Juventus playmaker Miralem Pjanic has been linked with a move away from Turin this summer with both Barcelona and Real Madrid sadi to be keen on acquiring his services.

The Bosnian midfielder has established himself as a key figure at the centre of the park for Juventus ever since he joined the club from AS Roma in 2016.

Bianconeri have nevertheless put their star midfielder up there on the market after informing the La Liga bitter rivals they placed a price on their player’s head.

Any club keen to grab the Bosnian international this summer will need to fork out €80 million.

Juventus would not settle for anything less than the said price as they need to generate funds so they can make a move for the Lazio hotshot Sergej Milinkovic-Savic…

Germany limbered up for their World Cup defence with a patchy 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in Leverkusen on Friday, ending a five-match winless slump in friendlies.

Timo Werner gave Joachim Low s men an early lead and Omar Othman s unfortunate own goal undermined Saudi Arabia as they briefly threatened to find a way into the contest.

Marco Reus made his first international start since March 2016 and dazzled during the first half, laying on Werner s opener and linking pleasingly with the RB Leipzig striker and Thomas Muller.

A former Dortmund team-mate of Reus will enter Russia 2018 under a cloud – Ilkay Gundogan again receiving boos following his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Saudi Arabia were humiliated 8-0 in the 2002 World Cup by …

Chelsea outspent every Premier League club in the last couple of transfer windows and appointed Mauricio Pochettino as the manager ahead of this season, but with just 28 points from 20 league games so far, they re sitting 10th in the table obviously not where they want to be.

Speaking to the press, Pochettino has confirmed that the squad is still being assessed with the aim of deciding whether further signings are needed this month.

We are assessing the squad, like always

Mauricio Pochettino says he has held talks with Chelsea s owners and sporting directors over whether they will add to their squad in January

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews)

…

American businessman Stan Kroenke has edged closer to a takeover of Arsenal.

Kroenke has increased his stake in the Premier League club three times already this year and did so again on Thursday.

The Gunners announced that Kroenke has spent £765,000 ($1.2million) buying 90 shares to increase his holding from 28.7 to 28.9 per cent.

That is a fraction short of the 30 per cent threshold that would trigger a mandatory offer for the remaining shares, although Kroenke has previously said he is not interested in pursuing a full buy-out.

Kroenke has made his personal fortune from real estate, which is estimated to be around $3.5billion (£2.2billion).

He first acquired shares in the London giants when buying a 9.9% stake in April 2007 and …

Gael Clichy is in no doubt that Manchester City have all the necessary tools to regain the Premier League title this season.

City won the crown in 2011-12 in dramatic circumstances thanks to Sergio Aguero s injury-time winner against Queens Park Rangers on the last day of the campaign.

However, they tamely relinquished the title to Manchester United last time around, finishing 11 points behind their neighbours in second a performance that cost manager Roberto Mancini his job.

But new boss Manuel Pellegrini made several top-class signings in the close-season, with Fernandinho, Stevan Jovetic, Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas all arriving at the Etihad Stadium for combined fees of around £90million.

And France international Clichy believes these new players along wi…

Thomas Muller scored Bayern second goal in the 2-0 Champions League defeat of Juventus

German giants Bayern Munich defeated Italian champions Juventus 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie last night.

The victory was a richly deserved one and it has to make Jupp Heynckes team favourites to progress to the semi-finals.

Impressive

Bayern Munich has been impressive all season, not just last night. They have an entertaining way of playing football that is also devastatingly efficient.

This season they have run away with the Bundesliga title race under veteran head coach Heynckes and look like a major threat in the Champions League as well.

I have been so impressed by Bayern this season that when the Champions League…

Paulinho and Thiago Silva earned Brazil a largely comfortable 2-0 victory over Serbia that clinched top spot in World Cup Group E and eliminated Mladen Krstajic s side.

Brazil s win set up a last-16 meeting with Mexico in Samara on Monday, while it is Switzerland, not Serbia, who will take on Sweden in St Petersburg the following day after drawing 2-2 with Costa Rica.

Tite s side left it late to get past Costa Rica on Friday, but they only had to wait 36 minutes for the opener in Moscow, Paulinho stabbing over Vladimir Stojkovic off a magnificent pass from Philippe Coutinho.

It was Paulinho s eighth goal since Tite took the helm in 2016 and brought his former Corinthians star back into the set-up, with only Neymar and Gabriel Jesus (10) scoring more for Brazil i…

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will be pleased with his side s attacking play this season.

Liverpool travel to the Liberty Stadium to face Swansea City in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, in a game that had proven to be a banana-skin fixture in the past.

However, with Swansea struggling for form, while Liverpool have pulled off some major scalps on the road, the Reds are being backed to pick up all three points.

Swansea looking like relegation candidates on recent form

Swansea City are currently 17th in the Premier League table with four points from six games. The Welsh club have suffered four defeats from their last five games in the division ahead of this weekend’s meeting with Liverpool, and have conceded two or more goals in four of the match…